Skip to main content

Internet Archive's in-browser audio with external links "theater" requires JavaScript to be enabled. It appears your browser does not have it turned on. Please see your browser settings for this feature.

Ray's A Laugh : 1949-1961 : High Quality

Publication date: 1949-10-11

Topics: OTR, comedy, Ray's A Laugh

Language: English

Ray's A Laugh : Radio comedy show starring comedian Ted Ray.

Co-starring Kitty Bluett. Featuring Peter Sellers, Kenneth Connor. Broadcast between 1949 and 1961, it ran for 12 years. Included are the only high bitrate editions I currently have.

A long-running British radio comedy of the 1950s, the humour is based around the fictitious life of its star, comedian Ted Ray, who is given a wife and a job, then put into humorous situations (domestic situations at home, and business situations in his job). This is an early situation comedy, which means it can't quite make up its mind whether it's a comedy about a situation, or simply a series of loosely connected sketches.

Ted Ray was originally a variety star on the English music-halls, beginning as a comic with a novelty musical act as Nedlow the gypsy violinist. Some references are made in the show to Ted's background on the halls, and to his former violin act.

This was an extremely high profile radio comedy, as it was created to replace the BBC's top-rated radio show, ITMA, following the unexpected death in 1949 of the latter's star, comedian Tommy Handley.

The title of the show, Ray's A Laugh, when spoken aloud, is meant to sound as though the radio announcer is saying Raise a laugh -- and this is part of the joke.

In the show, actress Kitty Bluett plays the wife, and voice actor Kenneth Connor plays everybody else (well, almost everybody else). Character actor Peter Sellers, later to be an international film star, plays occasional parts in the early episodes -- Sellers had a remarkable gift for voices, and here (in the very first radio series he ever appeared in) he notably plays the young girl with the unusual accent, Crystal Jollybottom !

When you hear the studio audience laughing at the girl's dialogue, even when it isn't especially funny, that's because they can see what we can only imagine: that the young girl is actually being played by a young man! Sellers' success with his vocal impressions on this show would quickly lead to him being cast in his more famous roles on The Goon Show.

Note: The 50 year period of broadcast copyright under section 14(2) of the UK's Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48) has expired for all the items in this collection.

Addeddate: 2019-08-03 00:35:41

Identifier: RaysALaugh1949

Scanner: Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4

Year: 1949

plus-circle Add Review

comment
Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write a review.

1,601 Views

6 Favorites

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

APPLE LOSSLESS AUDIO

33.3M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-10-11 [Rpt 2012-05-06].m4a

33.3M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-10-25 [Rpt 2012-05-13].m4a

33.3M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-01 [Rpt 2012-05-20].m4a

33.3M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-08 [Rpt 2013-09-09].m4a

33.3M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-15 [Rpt 2012-05-27].m4a

ITEM TILE

MP3

41.3M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-10-11 [Rpt 2012-05-06].mp3

44.2M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-10-25 [Rpt 2012-05-13].mp3

44.7M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-01 [Rpt 2012-05-20].mp3

44.7M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-08 [Rpt 2013-09-09].mp3

43.1M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-15 [Rpt 2012-05-27].mp3

66.6M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-10-11 [Rpt 2020-08-02] [b007jxbb].m4a

67.5M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-10-25 [Rpt 2018-02-25] [b01hl2g5].m4a

69.2M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-01 [Rpt 2018-03-04] [b007jrr2].m4a

62.7M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-08 [Rpt 2018-03-11] [b007jrtp].m4a

66.6M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-15 [Rpt 2018-03-18] [b00ssp46].m4a

68.4M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-22 [Rpt 2018-03-25] [b007js0d].m4a

68.2M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-22 [Rpt 2020-09-06].m4a

66.1M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-12-06 [Rpt 2018-04-01] [b007js2p].m4a

66.3M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-12-06 [Rpt 2020-09-13].m4a

66.8M

Ray's A Laugh - 1950-01-17 [Rpt 2018-04-08] [b007js54].m4a

70.0M

Ray's A Laugh - 1950-09-21 [Rpt 2018-04-15] [b007jrkl].m4a

69.9M

Ray's A Laugh - 1954-04-01 [Rpt 2018-04-22] [b007js9f].m4a

66.5M

Ray's A Laugh - 1958-10-03 [Rpt 2018-04-29] [b007jrnb].m4a

68.7M

Ray's A Laugh - 1958-10-17 [Rpt 2018-05-06] [b07d39yl].m4a

68.2M

Ray's A Laugh - 1958-10-24 [Rpt 2018-05-13] [b007jscc].m4a

66.5M

Ray's A Laugh - 1958-10-31 [Rpt 2018-05-20] [b07djzlk].m4a

65.9M

Ray's A Laugh - 1958-12-05 [Rpt 2018-05-27] [b07g74vg].m4a

64.9M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-01-02 [Rpt 2018-06-10] [b07gt434].m4a

64.9M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-01-16 [Rpt 2018-06-03] [b07hpb34].m4a

64.3M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-01-23 [Rpt 2018-06-17] [b07jl4w7].m4a

65.8M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-01-30 [Rpt 2018-06-24] [b07kwm0j].m4a

70.0M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-02-06 [Rpt 2019-07-21].m4a

67.0M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-02-13 [Rpt 2019-07-28].m4a

68.6M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-02-27 [Rpt 2019-08-04].m4a

68.1M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-03-13 [Rpt 2019-08-11].m4a

70.6M

Ray's A Laugh - 1959-03-20 [Rpt 2019-08-18].m4a

63.4M

Ray's A Laugh - 1960-01-29 [Rpt 2018-07-01].m4a

21.1M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-10-11 [Rpt 2012-05-06].ogg

20.9M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-10-25 [Rpt 2012-05-13].ogg

20.7M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-01 [Rpt 2012-05-20].ogg

20.9M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-08 [Rpt 2013-09-09].ogg

21.9M

Ray's A Laugh - 1949-11-15 [Rpt 2012-05-27].ogg

TORRENT

89 Files
37 Original

SHOW ALL

IN COLLECTIONS

Radio Show and Programs Archive

Uploaded by Ed 999 on August 3, 2019

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014)